How Drones and Electric Trucks Will Change the Package Delivery Business

Mar 29, 2017

Article

Innovation is something that we tend to recognize only in hindsight, after – sometimes long after – it has occurred. But it’s hard not to acknowledge that we are living in a period of dramatic change for how packages get delivered. Just picture the fleets of delivery trucks driving around our neighborhoods throughout the Christmas season. How many of us have bought an item from an online retailer in the afternoon only to see it arrive at our doorstep the next day?

Thank the innovators in Silicon Valley and at Amazon.com as well as the rise of e-commerce for developing a better way for finding, purchasing and receiving goods from our homes.

The paradigm shift from trips by shoppers to brick-and-mortar stores to clicks on e-commerce websites caused a dramatic increase in the number of items that needed delivering to homes across America. To propel the revolution further, many web-only-based sellers, or e-tailers, began offering free delivery. While this expense is an initial loss, its recouped over the long term because the middleman – the retailer – is cut out.

Those who are familiar with the current architecture of last-mile parcel delivery readily see how far it has come since starting with just a horse and rider and then advancing to wagons and trucks. Delivery companies in America, for example, now make use of innovations such as tracking packages, telematics to measure efficiency and high-end training to create the world’s best professional drivers.